IOGKF Newsletter

December 2012

Message from Sensei Tetsuji Nakamura – IOGKF World Chief Instructor

Holiday Greetings,

I hope everybody had a wonderful year. This year was a very special
year for me as well as IOGKF. Higaonna Sensei retired from
his position as the World Chief Instructor at the World Budosai,
and appointed me as the new Chief Iinstructor for the next generation.
I feel very honored and at the same time I realize that it is a
big responsibility. I received many supporting messages from all
over the world after my appointment. I can not explain in words
how much your messages meant to me. I would like to thank you all
for your trust and support in me. I will do my best to keep the
tradition and pass it on to our next generation.

Looking back over this year, our main focus was the World Budosai
in Okinawa. This event is the special event that is organized by
IOGKF Okinawa every four years. It was a great success, and I thank
all of the supporters from the IOGKF countries as well as IOGKF
Okinawa for hosting such a great event.

In the next year, Higaonna Sensei is traveling to South America
(Peru), North America (Canada), Europe (Italy), and Euro Asia (Russia).
I encourage all members to attend these seminars. Please check the
IOGKF website for more details.

Sometimes people say, "time flies". When you live your life without
any objective, you feel that time just flies by and you are still
the same as the year before. However if you live your life fully
and work hard to achieve your goals, "time accumulates". Traditional
Okinawan Goju-Ryu is a system which allows you to improve throughout
your lifetime. Regardless of your age and physical ability, if you
train properly you will improve your skill, spirit and body through
out your entire life. At the end of the year, I hope that each of
you feels that you are different from the year before.